Pages

Monday, June 29, 2015

Healthcare is at a major turning point as doctors and hospitals look for ways to improve health outcomes while meeting cost constraints. Here’s how that’s going to affect you.

Technology has revolutionized many aspects of our lives (there seems to be an app for almost everything these days), but our modern healthcare system has remained largely on the sidelines of this transformation.

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Online
training is getting more Common. Around 5.3 million U.S. understudies took no
less than one online course in fall 2013, as per a late study. Yet, while
online training is developing in fame, myths and misguided judgments
proliferate. Beneath, specialists isolate the certainty from fiction.

Myth 1

Online instruction is simple

It's not less demanding to acquire a degree
online than in a customary block and-mortar setting – simply distinctive, says
Lynn Atanasoff, a profession instructor at Pennsylvania State University—World
Campus. Understudies may have adaptability in regards to when they ponder,
however it likewise accompanies challenges.

"At
legitimate organizations, understudies need to finish the same material as
in-individual, aside from they additionally need to truly deal with their time
on the grounds that online nobody is reminding them when assignments or
undertakings are expected," she says.

Marci Grant,
executive of the Center for Distance and eLearning at Southwestern Oklahoma
State University, concurs. "Online courses require more self-bearing than
a customary course where eye to eye teachers are accessible," she said in
an email.

Online
education can also be quite labor intensive, requiring at least as much time as
an on-campus course, Grant adds.

Myth 2

The quality is lower

While
scholastic measures for online courses may fluctuate from school to class,
Grant says the online personnel and online courses at her organization
experience a thorough confirmation procedure to guarantee they comprehend the
scholarly standard that every online cours must meet.

At times, the
direction in an online class may be shockingly better than in an on-grounds
course, says Ramin Sedehi, the executive of Higher Education Consulting at the
Berkeley Research Group. ​

Myth 3

Online credits won't
exchange to another school

A few understudies may have issues exchanging
credits paying little respect to whether they finish their study online or on
grounds, says teacher Michael Bitter, director of the M.E. Rinker, Sr. Foundation
of Tax and Accountancy at Stetson University. ​

As a rule,
Bitter says, an organization would have no chance to get of knowing whether a
course they are considering for exchange credit was taken in a classroom,
online or some mix of the two.

Myth 4

Similarly as
with conventional courses, accreditation may fluctuate from school to class. Be
that as it may, a reasonable number of online projects are certify. "In
the event that an understudy goes to an unaccredited school, credits may not
exchange, government and state money related guide may not be accessible and
head honchos may not perceive their qualifications," says Christine
Broeker, between time official executive of eLearning at Seminole State
College​ of Florida.

She
says students can turn to the Council of Higher Education Accreditation, which
publishesa list of
recognized accrediting bodies​that
evaluate colleges and universities.

Myth 5:

Cheating is
more common in online courses

Deceiving can
happen with online courses, however specialists say that is not more inclined
to happen with online courses than with customary courses.

"There
are sites that any understudy can use to have papers composed for them,"
says Dani Babb, an online educator and author and CEO of The Babb Group.
​"Since online educators have apparatuses to help them spot written
falsification, in a few ways we have a bigger number of safeguards against this
than conventional training where an understudy delivers a paper."

Notwithstanding
written falsification recognition programming, some online projects oblige
understudies to take a test at a physical area, or to utilize a webcam while
finishing an exam. In both cases, understudies need to show verification of
distinguishing proof.

Saturday, May 16, 2015

Unfortunately for Americans, fluency in a second language is something only enjoyed by a select few. Either you grew up in a home where English shacked up with a mother tongue, or you found the discipline to master a new language through practice. For the rest of us, English is all we’ve known and all we’ll ever get.

That’s not to say some languages aren’t easier to pick up than others. Assuming we get the urge to learn more about a culture or make a pact to travel like a native, which means talking the talk, we can fold in a new way of speaking, and indeed, thinking. The trick is knowing what to expect. Some languages sound like English — just a little…off, while others might as well be indecipherable codes intercepted by warring countries. How does science explain that difference?

Apples And Oranges

Linguists like to pick things apart, so we can think of languages as being made up of three basic components: the phonology (how words and letters sound), the grammar (how those sounds are organized in a sentence), and the words themselves (how ideas and objects are represented verbally).

For English speakers, who operate with 44 producible sounds (known as “phonemes”), sentences that flow from subject to verb to object, and over a million words made up of 26 letters of the Latin alphabet, the basic challenge in learning a new language is staying as close as possible to those three benchmarks. Some accomplish the goal much more easily than others.

Spanish, for instance, is widely regarded as a natural second language for English speakers. With its 24 easy-to-pronounce phonemes, subject-object-verb grammar structures, and only one additional letter — ñ — many English speakers find Spanish a quick pick-up. Mandarin, meanwhile, is much harder. While it does use fewer phonemes than English and is generally thought to use a simpler grammar structure, it relies on tones to impart meaning, which English doesn’t employ, and instead of 26 letters to form words it uses thousands of representative characters.

Nuria Sagarra, associate professor of psycholinguistics at Rutgers University, also argues morphology — a language’s structure, based on parts of speech — plays a presiding role. English, for example, has a poor morphology, Sagarra explains. We need more than the verb “slept” to know who did the sleeping. But in Spanish — and other languages with richer morphologies — the subject is embedded in the verb: durmió, or “he slept.”

What makes one language harder to learn than another, Sagarra says, is how experienced the learner is with transferring between linguistically complex structures. That ability tends to arrive at intermediate proficiency, she told Medical Daily in an email.

“If your native language is more similar to the foreign language (e.g., your native language has rich morphology and you are learning a rich morphology, such as a Russian learning Spanish), things will be easier.”

It also doesn’t hurt to have a good memory, she says.

How Can We Know?

It’s tempting to say earning an A on a Spanish test means a person is moving toward fluency, but based on Sagarra’s experiments, she says, “this is far from real.” Learning languages is hard because it requires brand new cognitive frameworks. Simply translating the new structures through the filter of a native language isn’t learning. It’s memorizing.

For people like Sagarra who study the way our brains make sense of new languages, the challenge is figuring out when learning actually takes place. When is the brain playing by the new rules? In 2013, Sagarra and her colleague Nick Ellis, of the University of Michigan, foundthrough eye-tracking technology that people’s proficiency level determines where they spend their time concentrating. In that particular study, the investigators focused on adverb-verb congruency (“Yesterday the man eats” versus “Yesterday the man ate”) among English and Romanian learners of Spanish.

They discovered people read the Spanish sentences in line with the structures of their native language. As people got more proficient, their transfer rates increased, until a point when they knew the language well enough that their new frameworks supported the learning without needing to go back and forth.

Unfortunately, there aren’t in-depth studies that compare each language on these grounds. The best linguists can do is draw out some principles about language complexity and deduce which languages might be difficult for which native speakers.

Romance languages tend toward the top, often joined by Dutch, Swedish, and Norwegian. A little more time-consuming are Asian and Eastern European languages, which make use of different morphological elements: Hindi, Thai, Greek, Finnish, and Turkish. Then come the heavy-hitters, such as Mandarin, Arabic, Farsi, and Korean, which look and sound completely different than English.

It Gets Better

Luckily, the road ahead for language learners seems to get smoother with time. As you accumulate more languages in your arsenal, you gain an ability to transfer new languages through smarter filters. Success breeds success. If you already know Japanese and want to learn Mandarin, for example, you’ll probably have an easier time than someone who just knows English. Instead of transferring the new language through English, which stands at the opposite end of the morphological spectrum, you can use the frameworks for Japanese instead.

With that in mind, where you learn could end up making all the difference. Research has repeatedly found the immersive experience of language learning can’t be recreated in a classroom. If people have any hope of securing bilingual status — adopting all the nuances of everyday speak, not simply the stale phrases found in a textbook — they need to dive in headfirst.

The net effect of this is a brain that is forever more complex. People who speak more than one language exercise more executive control, mental flexibility, and concept formation. In this, Sagarra offers a word of advice to parents thinking of raising their kids bilingual.

“Bilingual kids need more time to talk and some teachers suggest parents to raise them monolinguals,” she said, “but bilinguals kids catch up at the end, so it's better to be patient and wait.”

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

ICD
Codes, International Classification of Diseases codes are used to classify the
diseases. This helps in recording keeping which is not only highly effective
but also very authentic. It’s being maintained by USA Govt. and WHO.

These
are found on patient paperwork, including hospital records, physician records,
and death certificates. Commonly used in American and Europe healthcare
facilities, Most of the Indian BPO who provides service to these clients uses
these codes for all record keeping.

ICD code

For Doctors’ reimbursements from Insurance company. All the
practices done by Doctors for the patients are recorded in CPT codes
(Current Procedural Terminology). Then the CPT needs to match with ICD for
all payment to be reimbursed.

A chronic disease patient, once an ICD code has
been assigned, it may affect the treatment he or she receives. ICD
standardizes the disease & any doctor can treat the follow up
patients after feeding the ICD codes for the patients

All clinical trials need ICD codes for the person who is
getting admitted to the clinical research

ICD codes are recorded in Death certificate for insurance
payment.

ICD-9 codes and
ICD-10 codes actually look quite different from each other. ICD-9
codes, which one can find on current paperwork, are being phased out by
2014 - 15.

Most ICD-9 codes
are comprised of three characters to the left of a decimal point, and one or
two digits to the right of the decimal point. Examples: 250.0 means
diabetes with no complications, 530.81 means gastro reflux disease (GERD),
079.99 means a virus.

Some ICD-9 codes
have V or E in front of them. A V code designates a patient who is accessing
the healthcare system for some reason that won't require a diagnosis,
usually a preventive reason. Examples: V70.0, the code for a general
health check-up, V58.66 specifies that a patient is a long term aspirin
user, V76.12 is coded for a healthy person who gets a mammogram, and
V04.81 is the most common code for a flu shot.

Medical Coding Course

A02.0 indicates a salmonella infection

I21.X refers to myocardial infarction

M16.1 is used for arthritis in the hip

Q codes represent genetic abnormalities, like Q35 for a
baby born with a cleft palate

Over
the next few years, ICD-10 is the most robust and detailed classification of
diseases. This will replace ICD-9 and will bring more standardization in the
medical coding world. ICD-10 codes are approached differently and are quite
different from their ICD-9 counterparts. These codes are broken down
into chapters and sub chapters. They are comprised of a letter plus two digits
to the left of the decimal point, then one digit to the right. The letters
group diseases. All codes preceded by a C indicate a malignancy (cancer), codes
preceded by a K indicate gastrointestinal problems, and so forth.

Examples
are:

Can ICD learning will
help in career prospects?

Most
of the Medical Coding and ICDs requirement is in western world. In India,
neither our doctors and hospitals or the insurance payers follow the same
method for actual day to day payment. So one should learn ICD and Medical
coding?

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Epilepsy
is a relatively common neurologic disorder in children that has important
implications for development, parents, and society. Making the correct
diagnosis starts with an accurate and complete history that consequently leads
to a directed diagnostic workup. This article outlines a diagnostic and
management approach to paediatric seizures and epilepsy syndromes. Making the
correct diagnosis of epilepsy or non epileptic imitators allows the practitioner
to prescribe appropriate therapy. Initial management for typical epileptic
syndromes and seizures and potential adverse effects are discussed. Alternative
treatment options for pharmacologically resistant patients such as ketogenic
diet, vagal nerve stimulation, and surgery are also discussed. While most
children favourably respond to anti epileptic medications, early identification
of medication failure is important to ensure optimal neuro development.

CHILDHOOD EPILEPSY

Monotherapy

Diagnostic
Evaluation

The
appropriate management of childhood epilepsy begins with a clinical evaluation
that precedes any therapeutic decisions.

Four diagnostic questions help to determine
the clinical management and prognosis as follows:

(1) Seizure
confirmation —“Are the described or witnessed events seizures?”

(2) Seizure
classification—“What is the likely neuroanatomical location for the seizure”?

(3) Epilepsy classification—“What are the most likely causes or
triggers for these seizures?”

Seizure management can be achieved either
pharmacologically which is preferred and more efficacious or by nonpharmacologic
measures such as resective surgery or ketogenic diet.

1.Pharmacological
Treatment Options

Monotherapy is desirable because it decreases
the likelihood of adverse effects and avoids drug interactions, which tend to
happen sometimes with polypharmacy. In general, recommendations are to start
anti-seizure therapy with a single drug, and most children with epilepsy
achieve complete seizure control with mono therapy when using the correct drug
for the seizure type. When using more than one drug, it is recommended to
change only one drug at a time, because it is impossible to determine which
drug is responsible for a beneficial or an adverse effect if we make several
changes simultaneously. The less frequent the doses are, the more compliance
rate will be achieved.

2.Non pharmacologic
Treatment Options

Children with antiepileptic
medication-resistant epilepsy or ongoing seizures with focal abnormality should
be considered for epilepsy surgery.

For those who have a more serious paediatric epilepsy, optimal management and a favorable outcome will rely in part on
patient-specific factors, education, and access to pharmacological and non-pharmacological
treatments.

Online Education

The traditional schooling experience
requires a student to attend classes in person and on campus. It makes sense to
attend classes in person if a student decides to spend valuable full time
inside a campus or a in a hostel. There are certainly more opportunities and
advantages to join various groups, have peer related evaluation and learning
while simultaneously taking classes on campus.

Also, student may need additional
assistance from guidance counsellors and professors, which is more readily
available on campus.

Traditional classes may be a better choice for students
who aren't very savvy with technology or who enjoy interacting with teachers
and professors face-to-face.

In addition, there are some subjects
that require more hands-on training during class, such as:

Online education is also known as
distance learning and consists of taking classes via the internet. More and
more students take online classes because of the flexibility and convenience it
provides. Student can attend class sessions from the comfort of home and
complete assignments at almost any time of the day. To get details about on-line coursesvisit us

Online classes are great for individuals
who have a demanding work schedule and / or family responsibilities. In
addition, online classes are more cost efficient because they doesn't require
any travelling and simultaneously earning. This is possible as the student can
schedule his / her education along with work life. The distance learning format
allows students to pursue education through an out-of-state school without
having to transfer residence.

However, there are some clear cons to
online education, including:

While some of the clear advantages of
online courses over traditional ones are:

Online
learning is here to stay

Distance education has been around for many decades in
the form of correspondence study. Digital learning started to grow
rapidly in the early 2000s with the expansion of personal computers and laptops
along with internet facility available at cheap prices. Participation is
only likely to increase as technology and software further develop.

Learning
outcomes are just as good.

Studies indicate that, distance education is getting more &
more effective than face-to-face classes. Some topics, particularly those
centred on visualization of 3D structures, like Massive bridges, structure of
human heart, can be more efficiently learned online. Others are better suited
to traditional classes, such as where social interaction or hands-on learning
is particularly relevant.

It is cheaper, but
not because of fees

Online study content is made with some capital investment at the beginning.
After that it needs very less amount to update. Unlike books and print media,
the whole content is not required to be printed again. So saves a lot of money
in preparation. Apart from that, as lot of students are enrolling., this
reduces the cost of wages and salaries of the employees working for the online
course leading to more cheap price for students.

In India, Digital learning is
playing an important role many diploma,PG,certification ,Correspondence courses
are available in market place in all education fields. Even medical courses are
also available after MBBS, Life sciences students also. Medvarsity an initiate
from Apollo Hospitals offersonline healthcare courseslike diploma's,certification,PG
diploma courses with practical training from Experienced professionals of
Apollo. Provides books and support for students.

Sunday, March 29, 2015

Treatment available for treating psoriasis
of joint are able to clear the lesions but relapse is common. While treating
psoriasis with Azathioprine Pulse Therapy, it was observed that the involvement
of joints (arthritis of small and big joints) also cleared. To see whether
intermittent high dose (IHD) and continuous low dose (CLD) azathioprine given
to clear psoriasis also clear the joint involvements and produce
prolong/permanent remission.

Methods

Six out of 60 psoriasis patients treated
with azathioprine pulse therapy (APT) had joints involvement. All received
azathioprine pulse therapy for treating psoriasis which contain azathioprine
500 mg given on three consecutive days and was repeated every month on the same
date along with azathioprine100 mg orally in between the IHD. The entire
treatment was divided into four phases. Phase I, continued till clearance of
all lesions of psoriasis. In phase II nine more APT is given. In phase III only
azathioprine100 mg was continued for 9 months. In phase IV azathioprine100 mg
was also stop and patients were followed up without any treatment for any
recurrence till the end of the study.

Result

Six patients with joint pain and arthritis
cleared in 1–12 months and are in remission since 35–95 months